


Checkmate.

by TickingClockwork



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Chess, Chess Metaphors, M/M, merle actually wins a gosh darn game for once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 20:11:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17392937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TickingClockwork/pseuds/TickingClockwork
Summary: John doesn’t understand happinessMerle wins at chessYou can pry JohnChurch from my Dead. Cold. Hands.





	Checkmate.

John was watching the dwarf at the other end of the table.

They were playing chess, again. It’s what they did to pass time and to make conversations a little less extreme. John didn’t want to fight with Merle and Merle didn’t want to fight with John. They both loved chess so it seemed like the perfect solution.

It was Merle’s turn and he was very focused on the game. John could see his eyes moving across the board, trying to decide what move to make. John didn’t get many moments like this, where he could just stop and pay attention to a single thing in front of him.

But moments like this happened often whenever Merle was around

As time went on, questions were asked and pieces moved across the board. Eventually John won the game (like usual) and killed Merle again.

John sat in the empty room and thought about the dwarf. How could someone be so... cheerful in the face of such a powerful being? Not only did Merle seem happy around him, he also seemed genuinely excited to see John every time he came back. Why? Why would he enjoy the company of someone who was trying to murder him and his friends?

 

The next time Merle came back John asked him a question that had been on his mind lately

“Merle... do you... enjoy this? Do you get satisfaction out of these games and talking to me”

Merle smiled “well of course I do. Sure, I’m kinda trying to prevent you from killing everyone a know and destroying everything I love, but other then that you’re not such a bad guy.” John was taken aback by Merle’s statement.

not such a bad guy...

“Merle, you act as if you have a disregard for the people you are trying to save” Merle looked at John with confusion 

“Of course I care about them! I care about everyone that you are trying to hurt... which is literally everyone.” Merle laughed “but I can’t exactly come in here and slap you across the face. That’s not how business works.”

John moved the black king.

“If I have a little fun while talking with you then that’s just a bonus”

Merle moved the white bishop across the board.

John looked up at Merle with surprise.

Merle looked up at john and grinned

“Checkmate.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this stupid one-shot
> 
> I wanted to try out a different writing style and also it is SO HARD TO WRITE A JOHNCHURCH FIC WITHOUT MAKING THEM ACT COMPLETELY OUT OF CHARACTER. I hope I did somewhat of a good job, if you hate it, let me know. I want to improve so any advice is good advice.


End file.
